RensenWare ransomware – You will decrypt files only scoring .2 Billion in TH12 Game

The rensenWare ransomware rather than demanding money, it requires the victims to score “over 0.2 billion” playing “TH12 game.

Security experts at MalwareHunterTeam have spotted a new ransomware dubbed ‘rensenWare’. The ransomware is very strange, rather than demanding money, it requires the victims to score “over 0.2 billion” playing “TH12 — Undefined Fantastic Object”.

The RensenWare ransomware would scan a machine for certain file types and used the AES-256 to encrypt the files. When the malware encrypts a file it would append the .RENSENWARE extension to it.

When RensenWare ransomware completes the file encrytion, it displays a ransom note featuring Captain Minamitsu Murasa from the Touhou Project series of shooting games made by Team Shanghai Alice.

The ransomware note tells the victims that they must score over .2 billion in the Lunatic level of a Touhou Project game called TH12 ~ Undefined Fantastic Object. If the victim does not reach that score or close the ransomware, he will not able to rescue the files forever.

“That’s easy. You just play TH12 ~ Undefined Fantastic Object and score over 0.2 billion in LUNATIC level. this application will detect TH12 process and score automatically. DO NOT TRY CHEATING OR TEMRMINATE THIS APPLICATION IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BLOW UP THE ENCRYPTION KEY!” reads the ransom note.

Found a surprising ransomware today: "rensenWare".Not asks for any money, but to play a game until you reach a score – and it's not a joke. pic.twitter.com/Pu53WZFALA

“A new ransomware called RensenWare was discovered today by MalwareHunterTeam that makes a unique ransom demand; score over 0.2 billion in the LUNATIC level of TH12 ~ Undefined Fantastic Object or kiss your files goodbye!” wrote Lawrence Abrams from BleepingComputers. “While I do not think this ransomware was ever meant to be distributed, it shows what a creative developer can do to torment their victims.”

The RensenWare ransomware will monitor the gaming progress of the victim by looking for a process called “th12.” The malware reads the processes memory to determine the current score and level of the game. When the victim reaches the Lunatic level and has scored over .2 billion points, the ransomware will save the key to the Desktop and initiate the decryption process.

Lawrence Abrams excludes that the rensenWare ransomware was developed for criminal purposes, “this program was most likely created as a joke. Regardless of the reasons, it illustrates another new and innovative way that a ransomware can be developed.”

During the encryption operation, the malware doesn’t try to delete shadow volumes or make any other action to prevent a victim from restoring their files. This suggests the ransomware was created as a joke or to only disturb a specific group of people.

The author of the ransomware Tvple Eraser explained its intent with a message shared on Twitter:

Hell, I'll NEVER make any malware or any similar thing. making was so fun, however as a result, it made me so exhausted, /w no foods all day

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Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer.
Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US.
Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines.
Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.

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